Monday, January 23, 2017

Pennsylvania: Kenneth Joint, 27, accused of purposely having his pit bull attack and maul a cat to death - and posting the video on Facebook

PENNSYLVANIA -- The Humane Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania has charged an Erie man with animal fighting and cruelty, accusing him of allowing his pit bull to attack and kill a cat at an eastside residence earlier this month.

Kenneth W. Joint, 27, faces arraignment on three third-degree felony counts of animal fighting and on misdemeanor and summary counts of cruelty to animals. Investigators said the attack happened in the basement of a residence in the 900 block of East 25th Street on Jan. 9.

Joint was not in custody Thursday morning.

Investigators who executed a search warrant on the residence on Jan. 10, after the attack was reported, found the cat deceased outside of the residence, and removed the 2-year-old male pit bull, said Lisa Stiles, the local Humane Society's chief investigating officer.

The Humane Society continues to hold the dog, named Kovu, as evidence in the case, Stiles said Thursday.

According to information in the criminal complaint filed against Joint, a man contacted the Humane Society on Jan. 10 and passed along a video, which was sent to the man through Facebook Messenger, that showed Joint calling his dog into the basement of the residence and "allowing and encouraging" the dog to attack an orange and white cat for about one minute.

When the dog first approached the cat, it was on its side on the basement floor, already bleeding and injured, Stiles wrote in the affidavit of probable cause accompanying the complaint.

Joint is heard in the video saying, "Get that (expletive)" and "You hear bone breaking," according to the affidavit.

Stiles also wrote in the affidavit that other messages Joint sent to the man showed that the attack was intentional.

Joint wrote in messages that the cat had been in the basement for six months, was destructive and caused the basement to smell like urine; and that Joint called his dog a "straight killer" and stated "my dog got that little (expletive)."

Also in the messages, according to the affidavit, Joint said that he called animal control about the cat and was told the charge would be $100 to catch it, and that Joint said he didn't have the money.

Joint then stated, "This was the only thing I could think of," Stiles wrote in the affidavit.